Alpha's Mountain
by Authenti
Summary: A young woman's cat is a terror to every living thing, and people are just too nice to say anything. Nice, however, doesn't apply to everyone in Flower Bud Village. When you're forced to get along, it eventually stops being forced.
1. Deux Oeufs

Slowly but surely, Alpha had moved here from Forget-Me-Not Valley. She was good with her hands; this much was made clear by the way she played a major role in building her own house high on the mountainside.

None of the old farmhouses in the village had suited her, apparently. The young woman had purchased land with her savings and paid for the material fees by working odd jobs for almost a year. She was used to getting her own way, even if it took a long time. The more physically inclined villagers helped out when she asked, which was often. She never promised a reward, but they didn't ask for one.

Alpha never complained. Everything turned out just fine anyway, but if it hadn't gone so smoothly, one always got the impression she wouldn't have kicked up a fuss.

This was what got her respect in her first few weeks; the inhabitants of Flower Bud Village had admired someone who could take control at such a young age and make such a huge change to her life – and with no one to support her!

Everything seemed wonderful, at first. Flower Bud had another inhabitant, even if she'd distanced herself by her choice of housing location. The villagers happily got on with their lives and prepared for the first festival since she'd officially taken up residence in her completed house. The Egg Festival.

She hadn't shown up until the very end. The winner was chosen. In complete silence, the blonde crept her way through the festival and chose a single stall whose owner was feigning disinterest.

"Deux oeufs, merci." Flawless French. Two eggs, thank you. She held up two fingers to make sure he got the message, and forked over exact change.

Jamie took the money and watched her leave, nudging his hat slightly upwards so as to see her better. She had placed the egg in a wicker basket and then left for the mountain house without so much as another word to anyone.

On her way in and out, she'd silenced a lot of the villagers merely by walking past. She had an emotionless expression and she wasn't a threatening or ominous figure in the least, but somehow the way she avoided everyone's gaze and kept to herself was enough to warrant a lull in conversation and a stare in her direction as she passed by.

Quite frankly, the girl was an enigma wrapped in a black scarf.

The year wore on. More festivals flashed past, but she attended none of them. No one saw her for months except for glimpses in her window when someone was visiting the mountain. There she usually sat, scarf cast neatly over the back of a huge, red plush armchair – ridiculously large, really – curled up, with a book in hand. No one had seen inside her house properly except for Tim and Meryl, who – as mischievous children often do – sneaked a peek in her window one day when she wasn't in the room. According to them, the inside was mostly bare wooden floors and a circular white rug, with simple white walls and doors leading off into other rooms, all of which were closed when they were looking.

So, according to the unreliable children, she kept her house simple. Apart from the red armchair and a fireplace, she didn't have anything else in her front room.

And then there was the cat.

Buttercupcake was not an amiable animal. He was a huge, foul-mannered tabby with claws like knives and a complete lack of ears. Another distinguishing feature was the mess he'd somehow made of his right eye, making Buttercupcake altogether ugly and repulsive.

Someone's dog had gone missing for two days. When they found it, whining and hiccupping around the mountainside with claw marks everywhere, bullied by a tom-cat that was twice the size of the dog itself… it was decided that someone would have to say something.

So they sent Theodore. As mayor, it was his duty, right?

Somehow, it never happened. Theodore had taken one glance in the window before he knocked on the door and that was it; he couldn't do it. He couldn't look her in her amber eyes and reprimand her for not keeping a cat in check. It was only one incident. He could let her off.

Besides, the mangy furball was waiting for him at the door with a particularly challenging glint in his evil yellow eye.

It wasn't until Winter that anyone saw Buttercupcake or his elusive owner in the matching white shirt and cargo pants again.

Jamie had finished his work for the day. It was the third day of the Winter season, and everything had been harvested and the animals fed and kept indoors, out of the cold. He was heading for the Goddess Spring, of course – as he did, whenever he got the chance. He'd done it all year and never once paid attention to the tidy, clean little cottage further along the path.

But this time, he was forced to take notice of its owner.

Alpha was lying on her back in a snowdrift just beside the path, eyes closed peacefully. Jamie blinked at her, somewhat startled. She couldn't be… dead? Why would she just drop dead for no reason? It wasn't _that_ cold…

Her orange eyes flickered open and met his stare. Slowly, she reached up and tugged her thick, black scarf down so as not to muffle her voice.

"Salut," she nodded at him. Jamie decided she wasn't worth his time any longer and turned back to the Goddess Spring, heading forwards again. "Aren't you going to ask why I'm speaking French?"

Jamie hesitated. There was an edge to that voice. It was a sharp accusation, cleverly disguised as an innocent question. So Jamie gave her an equally sharp-toned answer.

"No."

"Why not?" she snapped back immediately.

"I don't see why I should." Jamie kept walking, but the snow shuffled behind him and then came the familiar yet eerie noise of crunching footsteps.

Alpha ignored the way he pulled his hat down slightly and hunched over, indicating he didn't want company; she merely caught up and trudged alongside him the rest of the way to the Goddess Spring entrance.

"I am speaking French," she explained rather matter-of-factly, "because no one has asked me to speak English."

"You're speaking English now," he pointed out, and immediately realised he'd taken the conversational bait. Mentally, he slapped himself. _Don't encourage the hermit._

Alpha nodded. "That is because I don't know if you will understand me otherwise. I was born in Mineral Town – my first language is English. But I like to speak French sometimes, to avoid people talking to me unnecessarily. It is a good technique." She smiled beneath her scarf, knowing no one could see it. "It seems to work too well on your comrades in the valley. They don't visit."

Jamie had learnt his lesson already and didn't answer. Unfortunately, she kept talking regardless as they entered the Spring. He didn't want to be here any more. With the mountain lady tailing him, there was just no way he could concentrate on the Harvest Goddess, or his own thoughts for that matter. But turning around now would look awkward, like he'd forgotten the way or what he was going to do.

She fell silent, not that he'd been listening. There was a long period of quiet, broken only by the occasional ripple of water and the wind outside the Goddess Spring. A couple of Harvest Sprites gathered to watch what was going on. Jamie focused his attention on them, and they began to look uncomfortable under his steely glare.

"What are you looking at?" Jamie glanced away to focus once more on the Goddess statue. "Don't tell, then, I don't much care." Alpha prodded him. "It's getting late. You have a farm to run."

"You aren't going to get me to talk."

"Well, that was a contradictory thing to say." She wasn't smiling at him, just kind of relaxed and indifferent. "Go run your farm, sir. I'll be at the Fire Festival this season."

"I don't see how that will affect me." Jamie turned and left. And, until the 19th day of Winter, elusive Alpha and her terror of a cat remained elusive and terrible.


	2. Buttercupcake

The orange glow of the bonfire made Alpha's white outfit reflect a shade of amber, matching her eyes in a somewhat disconcerting way. She sat with her back to the fire, making shadow puppets with her hands. The odd little man in the red suit and hat had asked her to take care of the fire this year.

"I never did understand why they called this one a dog," she mused out loud, trying out a snapping motion with the 'jaw' and tilting her head slightly to see if the flickering shadow looked any better sideways.

"That's because you're doing it wrong," came a small voice from somewhere to her left. "Crook your index finger."

She did indeed try this, and suddenly the shadow her hand cast looked uncannily like a canine. "Oh. Thank you."

"Hmmph."

_Oh, wait, that's Jamie. _Alpha turned to make sure. Yes, he was standing a little way off with his arms folded under his poncho, staring into the fire with a glazed look in his icy eyes. "Go sort him out, cuddles," she whispered to her cat, who had decided to follow her down from the mountain for the night. It began purring at her loudly and narrowed its eyes to evil yellow slits as cats do when they're looking at someone with love and affection. Clearly he wasn't going to be any help. Alpha shunted him off her lap with a surprising amount of effort (that cat was _huge_) and stood up immediately to stop him clambering straight back again. She joined Jamie with a couple of strides and stood beside him, staring into the flames of the bonfire.

"How do you know about shadow puppets, then? I was under the impression that it was a social thing," she joked quietly. If Jamie had heard her, he didn't react. "Mm, fine. Be that way. But sooner or later I am going to set your blanket on fire."

"Poncho. And don't."

"Blanket. Also, say something."

"Leave me alone." Alpha frowned at him disdainfully. After ten whole minutes, it became apparent that she wasn't going to let him off that easily. Jamie could swear she hadn't blinked since she started looking at him. "Family."

"What?"

"You asked about the shadow animals. I learnt them from my family." He paused to let her mull this over. It felt uncomfortable, somehow, just telling this annoying brat the slightest thing about his past. Still, if it would make her shut up and leave…

No such luck. "Hmm. Well, anyway, are your ears burning?" Jamie glanced at her with a look of abhorrent confusion. What in the name of the Goddess did she mean? "They should be. You've got a grand total of four different gossip topics spreading about you as we speak." She nodded nonchalantly towards a group of three nearby – Nina, Katie and Eve were giggling away about something. Jamie felt uncomfortable suddenly. Of course, he knew he wasn't particularly well-liked around Flower Bud Village, but somehow he felt almost like it bothered him now that there was a newcomer hearing it. She didn't have to hear about this, not yet at least.

It was almost like having a clean slate and then someone comes along with the chalk and draws obscenities.

But why did it matter, anyway? He was already doing his best to avoid her, so a little gossip wasn't going to hurt relations any more.

"My name isn't really Alpha, by the way," the girl suddenly spouted loudly, speaking in the general direction of the three gossips. Apparently she'd heard something about her that she wanted to correct.

"Oh! What is it, then?"

"Wow, she sure had me fooled. Joe says that was the name on the legal papers when she signed for the land up at the mountain."

"Doesn't that make it invalid?"

The three began chattering away immediately. Jamie risked a sideways glance at 'Alpha'. She looked triumphant.

"Well, problem solved. They shall no doubt be pondering that for at least half a season. It's Elizabeth, by the way," she added, as if he was interested. "Fairly common, actually, but it'll be _great_ hearing what they come up with."

Jamie assumed she was smiling. Her eyes looked brighter, but her mouth was hidden under the big black scarf as always.

Half an hour passed in silence. The group of gossiping girls went their separate ways

"I should be going back. My chickens are outside, and I think 'Cupcake is getting cranky from all the people – aren't you, schnookums?" She tickled the cat under the chin affectionately. It lazily lowered its head and clamped its jaws down on her hand, teeth sinking in like needles.

Jamie scowled at her as soon as he found something to complain about. "The Mayor told you to mind the fire."

"The Mayor needs to choose better candidates for his strange village traditions." She yawned widely beneath her scarf, somehow dislodging the cat's teeth from her hand and letting him slide to the ground as she stood up. It hissed at her and stalked off, tail straight up in the air like a banner. "Besides, it's a fire made of wood _you _collected. You look after it."

_Since when did she have chickens? _Jamie flashed her a look of absolute disapproval. "Do you know why this festival takes place?"

"Dead people?" she suggested nonchalantly, then shrugged and set off for the mountain. Actually, she knew _exactly _why the Fire Festival was entertained. She didn't like the ocean at the best of times. Remembering people who had died in it wasn't her idea of a good time, and besides, she didn't know any of them personally. "Have fun with your haunted beach."

"You're completely missing the point," Jamie muttered, but she was already out of earshot and quickly vanished into the night.

He knew he wasn't considered particularly selfless himself, but he'd be damned if that wasn't seriously narrow-minded of her. Hell, at least he was still _here._

---

It had recently come to the attention of the residents of Flower Bud Village that perhaps their tradition of giving every newcomer the benefit of the doubt had failed them this time. Just because someone was _quiet _didn't necessarily mean they were _nice. _In her two public visits to the main part of the village since she'd moved in, Alpha had proven herself to be quite self-centred.

In fact, although the villagers had assumed she just preferred to keep to herself and could in fact be quite an amiable person once you got to know her, the exact opposite was true. The more you got to know her, the less you wanted to see of her.

_Or her cat._

Buttercupcake, only named as such because someone had unfortunately gotten close enough to see his red collar before they'd received a nasty scratch to the cheek, had begun tormenting the horses. Apparently even being nice to Alpha's _pet _hadn't worked, not that the malicious ball of scraggy fur and raggedy chipped teeth could be called a pet since all it did was wandered around of its own accord and hated everything that moved.

Eventually, someone came up with the idea of fighting fire with fire. No residents would voice it, but they wanted that cat gone, and since everyone was too kind to animals to _dispose _of it, the only other option was to contact the owner and get her to do something about it.

And they didn't have to feel guilty about shouting at her because, well, it was someone else who would be doing the shouting.

Specifically… Jamie.

Ray cursed mentally as he approached the mammoth of a feline, warily pinning his eyes on it to watch for movement. He'd been chosen for the job. Why? Because he was the one who could fish_. _Which, clearly, was a load of garbage because anyone could fish, and cats weren't exactly discerning when it came to whether the fish was carp or cod!

"He-e-ere, kitty, kitty…" He dangled the fish in front of him, insulted that he'd had to offer something so meagre. Even if it didn't matter because he was giving it to the cat, it was still a blow to his ego that all he'd caught today was a single lake smelt. "Here, uh, beastie… monster?"

The cat lifted an eyelid to glare at him critically. He gulped nervously and stopped advancing. Buttercupcake yawned widely and uncurled to stand up, stretching, taking his time; and then took several steps forwards with tail fluffed up like a monstrous squirrel.

"Nice fish here, kitty… come on…" Ray backed off, still waggling the fish at arm's length. He got the feeling that if he broke eye contact, the creature would savage him. As it was, he bumped backwards into a fence and the shock caused him to yelp slightly. Tensely, he hovered the fish over the other side of the fence, stepping to one side to give the cat a clear view.

"Mrrrow."

"Yep, come on, kitty, over there… Nice fishy-fishy…" With a sudden steely resolve, Ray whipped his arm backwards and flipped the smelt towards a cow. It flopped on the ground beside the animal, and at the same moment, the terrible tabby _cat_-apulted itself over the fence and sprang onto the fish, claws out, and proceeded to savage it into tiny pieces. The cow went berserk, and the cat rallied to punish it for making a fuss. Ray ran for his life.

A growling black dog got mixed up in the action, followed by another two cows. Jamie stormed outside his house to find out what was going on, and strongly disliked what he saw.

"Alpha…" he growled through clenched teeth, stomping over to sort out the ruckus before his animals got hurt. Buttercupcake was sent skittering away into the bushes as the purple-haired farmer tried to calm the cattle.

Nearby, behind a tree, Joe and Ray high-fived and ran to spread the message. The plan was working.


	3. Snowed In

The wind up on wintry Mt. Moon wasn't cold. It was _freezing. _Today, with overcast skies and the chilling crunch of snow underfoot, Jamie tugged at his poncho and wondered, not for the first time, whether this was worth it.

The ginger bread-loaf of a cat he was following was only visible by its upright tail, the rest of the animal buried up to its missing ears in snow. Going was slow. He hated to admit it, but he was beginning to hope the cat knew where it was going. Because maybe, possibly, he sort of… didn't.

Not his fault, of course. Everything looked the same under a blanket of snow this deep.

There was smoke up ahead. He figured they must be close. No one else would be up on the mountain today, not in this weather. It had begun to snow, too. It kept landing on his face and chilling him to the bone, but Jamie was nothing if not stubborn.

Sure enough, a chimney came into view through the thickening snowstorm and then the rest of the house, with its quaint little front door with the cat's head silhouette carved around the knocker.

He rapped on the door impatiently, glancing across at the window. She wasn't in the front room, but with the fire going, there must be someone to tend it and make sure it didn't set fire to the rest of the house.

_Then again, with her lack of dedication to the Fire Festival, I wouldn't be surprised, _he thought resentfully, and shuffled around in the snow a little to try and warm up.

The door opened and a blast of hot air caught him by surprise. Buttercupcake trotted inside right under his owner's feet, seemingly determined to get in the way as much as possible before he curled up by the fire.

"Your cat," Jamie began, narrowing his eyes at Alpha, "is a nuisance."

"Butters can do what he likes. If he's bothering you more than a mile and a half away from my house, there's not much I can do."

Jamie managed to hold back a sneeze. "Then keep it inside. If I catch him wandering around my property one more time, your cat won't be coming back."

Alpha looked completely nonplussed. "You're saying you'd actually kill him? Hm. I smell a rat."

"Did I say kill?" He shook his head. "Maybe he just might accidentally get stuck somewhere. Oh, say, the cellar."

"I wish I had a cellar," Alpha mused thoughtfully.

That was the last straw. She was now trying to change the subject. How dare she ignore him that easily? "Look, keep your cat the hell away from me, or I swear to the Goddess-"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot!" Alpha exclaimed suddenly. "You pay the statue a visit often, right?" Jamie winced. What was it any of her business? Had she been watching him? How rude… "Come in for a minute-"

"No."

"Seriously, sir-"

"Don't call me 'sir'."

"Jamie?"

"No. Don't talk to me."

"You arrived at _my house _and ranted at _my front door-_"

"I had every right-erk!" Alpha grabbed him by the front of his poncho and yanked him hard, then slammed the door behind him. "What the hell do you think you're-"

"There's a snowstorm coming," she explained, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. "Besides, you were letting all the heat out." A chicken ran underfoot. Alpha frowned at it. "Damn. Thought I shut the latch." She stepped over to the runaway bird and scooped it up, then retreated into the kitchen, leaving Jamie to be stared at by a certain angry-looking feline.

There was the sound of metal on metal, and he quickly ducked out of the living room and away from the evil animal to see Alpha turn away from a door. From the sound of scratching and clucking behind it, he assumed that was where she kept her chickens.

"Can't leave them outside in this season," she explained quietly. "They'd get hypothermia and die. A bit like if you tried to go back home now."

Jamie scowled at her. "Is that a threat?"

She looked surprised, and busied herself with a small copper kettle, then led them back into the front room and pointed to the window. "You misunderstand. Look out there."

While she built up the fire to accommodate the kettle, Jamie crossed the room and stared out of the window.

It might as well have been covered in a sheet of paper. Everything outside was totally white. Now that he was listening, he could even hear the faint sound of gale-force winds whipping around the little house. Despite the fact that the house was obviously built to be sturdy, and the warm fire, and the friendly look in Alpha's eyes, Jamie no longer felt even remotely safe.

"No…" he could only mumble quietly.

"Guess you're stuck here for a while," said that annoyingly gritty voice.

"_Goddess damn it._"

"In any case," she continued, ignoring his obvious lack of enthusiasm, "this is what I was going to say when I dragged you inside." As the kettle began to whistle, she rummaged in a small, intricately-carved box over the mantelpiece and pulled out a small, glowing object. "It chimed at me when I found it. I suppose it's something to do with that goddess." Alpha held out what was unmistakeably a colourful, purplish-blue musical note.

---

They say curiosity killed the cat. All it had managed to do to Buttercupcake was remove his ears and a couple of whiskers, and make him really ugly. So it was that Jamie, although he'd already been planning not to say a word to Alpha for as long as he was stuck in her house, felt he had to ask a question.

"Wh- but-" _Stop doing that _"You have-" _Don't say that either _"How did _you _get that note!?" _Too loud, she probably won't answer you now, you know how fickle people are._

The girl merely frowned disdainfully at the note in her hand. "Terribly gaudy thing. It appeared in my hands the day after the Fire Festival, and a voice said something about snow. I didn't know what to do with it, so I kept it safe in case anyone came to collect it. A bit like with lost jewellery." She offered it with an outstretched arm, and tilted her head slightly to one side. "Is it yours?"

Jamie remained dumbstruck for a few seconds, then somehow recovered and put a hand to his forehead, supporting his elbow with his other arm. "No. It's… not anyone's. But you just got yourself a job to do."

Alpha looked alarmed, and almost dropped the note. Luckily, she scrambled to catch it in time. "No, no! I can't do whatever it is you want me to do. You'll have to do your own work as far as this thing is concerned."

Jamie smirked. "You'll have to. I can't take it. Notes can't change hands once they've been found. And you can't get rid of it until you have five of them."

The irritating hermit-girl eyed the object in her hands critically. She didn't look pleased. _And there I was thinking girls liked shiny, colourful objects. _The purple-haired rancher stifled a laugh at her expense. The idiot had gotten herself into doing some work for others for once.

"Okay. Fine." Something in the girl's tone of voice made him look up from where he'd been studying the floorboards. "Have a seat. We'll be here for a while. You might as well tell me what I have to do."

So he sat in the red plush armchair and felt very small because the chair was so huge, and she sat on the white rug in front of the fire and made some tea, and the cat balled itself up across her knees, and Jamie told her everything.

She looked sceptical at first, but as the tale wore on and Jamie didn't seem to be running out of ideas, Alpha seemed to realise he couldn't have made it all up.

And, eventually, when he finished his explanation, she nodded once, slowly, and said, "Okay. I believe you." And then she removed her black scarf.

It was the first time anyone in Flower Bud Village ever saw her full face. Jamie wasn't too interested, but he had to admit, at least to himself, that she looked okay when she wasn't wearing it. _I mean, at least it wasn't covering up any horrible scarring or anything._

"I got too hot," she explained, though he hadn't asked. "I might let the fire die down a bit." And suddenly now that it wasn't muffled, her voice didn't sound quite as gravelly. "I say, have you heard the story of the tinder-box?" When he shook his head, she smiled brightly. "It's just that, well, we'll be here a while, and I read fairytales to pass the time, so… would you like to hear it?"

And had it been a few degrees colder in the room, an hour earlier, and she had told him she hadn't believed him about the Harvest Goddess, Jamie would have said no.

Instead, he merely shrugged indifferently, trying not to show that she'd piqued his curiosity. He was supposed to ignore people. If she wanted to talk, that was her own business.

He would listen, though. For now.

Just to see how it ended.

* * *

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading this far. It's still got a way to go, but for now I'd really appreciate a review or two, just to let me know people are reading it, and what they think of it. Don't be afraid to criticise, and thank you for your time!


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